I have a glass carboy that I really want to get rid of. For me the plastic Better Bottles are just superior because of saftey factor alone. I have heard horror stories of people dropping and breaking the glass carboys that really makes me nervous when I have to use mine.

What size of glass carboy did you get? If it is the 6.5 Gallon size then you will use it for primary fermentation, if you only got the 5 Gallon carboy then that is more of a secondary fermentation (which is really only necessary when you are making a beer that requires more conditioning time such as a lager or a high gravity beer). From what you are describing, it sounds like you got both a fermenting bucket and a glass carboy, did you get another bucket for bottling?

What type of beer are you making? 2 weeks is a good amount of time for most beers, and pretty much the absolute minimum time I will will ferment for.

You should not pour boiling water into the glass carboy. Temperature shock could cause it to break. What I have done in the past is boiled the top off water, let it cool for a while on the stove, then pour it into a sanitized fementer (bucket or Carboy) and then throw my airlock on and put it in fridge to cool down while I do the rest of my brewing. If you don't have a fridge, just let it hang out with the airlock on while you are brewing, but make sure you check the temperature when combining.

Another question. What if I wanted to brew another batch while this one is ready for the conditioning stage? Can I bottle from the carboy so that I can use the fermentation bucket for a different batch? The kit came with a rack and fill kit.

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You can't buy happiness. But you can buy beer. And that's pretty much the same thing.

What do you guys do if you ever decide you want to brew a lager? I don't have an extra fridge in which to do that (wishing now that I would have kept my old fridge when we got a new one a couple weeks ago instead of giving it to my niece).

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You can't buy happiness. But you can buy beer. And that's pretty much the same thing.

After the boil and cool down of the wort, I put it into the bucket. 2-3 weeks later, I transfer to the carboy for conditioning? At what point and in which container do I add the priming sugar?

Yes to all. Dmac may be more apt to answer you on how long to secondary because I just don't do it.

As far as adding the sugar, after you let it hang out in the secondary for a while, you will boil the 5 oz or so of priming sugar in with a little water, throw that into your sanitized bucket, siphon from the carboy to the bucket. (I would put the hose in a position so that it would gently swirl the beer while transferring, so that it would mix the priming sugar evenly). Then transfer to bottles.

1 week in the primary, although you want to make sure that the specific gravity is pretty close to the final product and activity in the airlock has almost ceased.

Then I transfer to the carboy (secondary). Make sure all your transfer equipment; siphon, tubing, carboy, etc. is properly sanitized. You won't get every last drop transfered over. Just leave all the dead yeast and other crap in the bucket.

2 weeks in the secondary and then transfer back into the bucket for bottling. Again, make sure everything is sanitized well including your bottles and caps.

3 weeks in the bottle (minimum) before drinking. I prefer to wait 6 weeks myself, but will usually pop one open after 3 just to make sure all is well.

You also want to measure the specific gravity before starting the fermentation. You can compare it to the final gravity measurement and get an accurate idea off the alcohol content.

Another question. What if I wanted to brew another batch while this one is ready for the conditioning stage? Can I bottle from the carboy so that I can use the fermentation bucket for a different batch? The kit came with a rack and fill kit.

If it was me, I would go get another bucket that is just a bottling bucket. That way you can have two batches going at once, and not have to worry about emptying the primary to have bottling bucket.

Also,theoretically, you could just bottle from the primary or secondary. They have little pellets of priming sugar that you just put into each bottle, then transfer the beer into the bottles. This would probably leave you with a bit more sedimentation in your bottles though. I personally have never used those priming tablets though.

1 week in the primary, although you want to make sure that the specific gravity is pretty close to the final product and activity in the airlock has almost ceased.

Then I transfer to the carboy (secondary). Make sure all your transfer equipment; siphon, tubing, carboy, etc. is properly sanitized. You won't get every last drop transfered over. Just leave all the dead yeast and other crap in the bucket.

2 weeks in the secondary and then transfer back into the bucket for bottling. Again, make sure everything is sanitized well including your bottles and caps.

3 weeks in the bottle (minimum) before drinking. I prefer to wait 6 weeks myself, but will usually pop one open after 3 just to make sure all is well.

You also want to measure the specific gravity before starting the fermentation. You can compare it to the final gravity measurement and get an accurate idea off the alcohol content.

I do a 2-1 rule myself.

2 weeks in the primary. 1 week in the secondary. And i dont bottle, so usually a 3-4 days just sitting in the keg carbonatin.